Odyssey Sims didn’t start for the Tulsa Shock on Saturday, but just having her back on the court had to have an impact on the team.
Tulsa beat Los Angeles, 82-67, winning its second straight after dropping three in a row.
It was the first game back for Sims who missed the previous 10 games to a knee injury. She came in midway through the first quarter for Brianna Kiesel, who had taken over for Sims in a starting role when she was injured. Within 15 seconds, Sims had her first assist of the night, getting the ball to Karima Christmas for a three-pointer.
Sims had six assists on the night and 14 points as well in her return.
“It feels great, I’m just happy to be playing again,” Sims said. “I wasn’t surprised about my playing time, but I knew it wasn’t going to just be fifteen minutes. I played as much as I could and did what I could to help my team.”
Christmas, meanwhile, had a career night scoring 24 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and was 11-of-12 from the free throw line.
Kiesel and Vicki Baugh each had 10 points in the win.
The Shock are now 10-4 on the year and are two games ahead on Minnesota in the win column in the WNBA Western Conference.
Also, the Shock are now 6-0 on the season at the BOK Center. It is the longest home winning streak for the franchise since relocating to Tulsa prior to the 2010 season.
Tulsa next plays on Wednesday at Indiana. Tip time is scheduled for 6 p.m.